Just Like You
by Hobbit4Lyfe
Summary: Soraya Sevillo-Walker is sent to the Green Lake Detention Camp for Boys, but she doesn't know why. Can she survive without the D-Tent Boys discovering her secret? Please review.
1. The Bus Ride

It was a hot ride on a really old bus headed for Camp Green Lake. It wasn't that fun, either. All I had was a little backpack with barely anything in it, so I couldn't entertain myself.

The guard on the bus wouldn't let me talk to the only other passenger on the bus, a boy not much older than me, Stanley Something-or-other.

I don't know why I was going to a juvenile detention camp… an all-boys juvenile detention camp. I was a 13-year-old girl that'd never done anything wrong.

Well, technically, there were a couple of things, but as far as I knew, I'd never been caught. Just a tiny bit of shoplifting… candy bars. When I was, like, five. I didn't know any better. The kids in this camp were supposedly hardened criminals in miniature form. Not me.

And here I was, disguised as a boy, taking the long, hot trip to Camp Green Lake.


	2. Mr Sir

We finally arrived at Camp Green Lake. Stanley got yelled at when we got off the bus, since he asked where the lake was.

It was a good question. I mean, it was Camp Green Lake, and there didn't seem to be any lakes anywhere. Whatever, though.

The guard led us into an office. There was a fan, but it didn't do much good. A man sat behind a messy desk, eating sunflower seeds. He didn't seem to be enjoying it.

Something seemed familiar about him, but I couldn't tell what.

"Sit down," the man told me and Stanley. Stanley did.

"Um… there's only one chair," I said.

"Well, then, stand!" he said.

"What's with the sunflower seeds, man?" the guard asked.

"I gave up smoking," desk man said. "Stanley Yelnats… the fourth?"

"Yeah, everyone in my family names their son Stanley, 'cuz it's Yelnats backwards. It's like this… it's a little… It's a tradition."

"What about you…?" the man said, switching to my file. He looked at me for a second, then back at the file. "Soraya Sudaba Maria Sevillo-Walker…" The man suddenly got really pale.

"Yelnats, get outta here a minute," he said.

Stanley hurried out. The guard followed him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here? Who are you, girl?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean!"

"No, I don't."

"Yelnats, get back in here."

Stanley came back in, followed by the guard.

"Did you hear any of that?"

"No, sir." I hope he really didn't.

"Good. My name is Mr. Sir," he said to both of us. "Whenever you speak to me, you will call me by my name. Is that clear?"

Stanley and I looked at each other and giggled. "Yes, Mr. Sir," we said, trying to be serious.

"You two think that's funny? Huh?"

"No, Mr. Sir."

"This isn't a Girl Scout camp, understand?" Mr. Sir got two sodas out of a small fridge. "Here," he said, passing one our way. Stanley, the idiot, thought it was for him, but it was for the guard.

Mr. Sir said, "Boy, you're a bag of tricks."

"Thanks," the guard said.

"You thirsty, Stanley?" Mr. Sir asked.

"Yes, Mr. Sir."

"Well, you better get used to it. You gonna be thirsty for the next 18 months."

Crap. This was going to be a long 18 months.


	3. Can't Run Away

Mr. Sir led me and Stanley out of the office. The guard went somewhere else, I assume to the bus to leave.

"Look around you, boys," Mr. Sir said. "Whaddya see? Any guard towers? How 'bout an electric fence? Hmm?"

"No, Mr. Sir."

"Y'all wanna run away? Go ahead, start running. I'm not stopping either of you."

He got distracted by some guy standing in the doorway of some building. "I'm warning you!"

While he was yelling at the other kid, Stanley lightly shoved me and pointed out that Mr. Sir had a gun.

"Oh, don't worry," Mr. Sir said. "This here's for yellow-spotted lizards. I wouldn't waste a bullet on you."

"What's a yellow-spotted lizard?" I asked, not realizing it was a dumb question until it was already asked.

"C'mon, boy! It's a lizard with yellow spots!" Mr. Sir said.

"I won't run away, Mr. Sir," Stanley said.

"Me neither."

"Good thinking, boys. Don't nobody run away from here. Know why? We got the only water for a hundred miles, our own little oasis. You wanna run away, them buzzards'll pick you clean by the end of the third day."

"Buzzards?" Stanley asked, glancing over at me.


	4. The Laundry Room

Mr. Sir took me and Stanley into a laundry room and made us change. Lucky for me, there was a smaller room connected to the one we came in, so I changed in there.

"You get two sets of clothes, one for work and one for relaxation," Mr. Sir told us. "After three days, your work clothes will be washed. Your second set becomes your work clothes. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Mr. Sir."

"You are to dig one hole each day, 5 foot deep, 5 foot in diameter. Your shovel is your measuring stick. The longer it takes you to dig, the longer you'll be out in the hot sun."

Stanley fell over. In the next room, I started to giggle.

"Quiet in there," Mr. Sir said.

"Sorry, Mr. Sir," Stanley and I said.

"You need to keep alert for lizards and rattlesnakes," Mr. Sir said.

"Rattlesnakes?" Stanley asked.

"You don't bother them, they won't bother you. Bein' bit by a rattler ain't the worst thing that can happen to you."

I finished changing and walked in where Stanley and Mr. Sir were.

"You won't die, usually. But you don't wanna get bit by a yellow-spotted lizard. That is the worst thing that can happen to you. You will die a slow and painful death… always."

Just then, a funny-looking man in a khaki bucket hat walked in.

"Stanley Yelnats and Soraya Sevillo-Walker?" Hat man asked.

"Yeah," we said.

"I just want you two to know that you may have done some bad things, but that does not make you bad kids. I respect you, Stanley and Soraya."

Crazy, overly-sappy man.

"Welcome to Camp Green Lake," he said, shaking our hands. "I'm Dr. Pendanski, your counselor."

"Start that touchy-feely crap, I'm outta here," Mr. Sir said. "Give them some towels, tokens, set them up," he said to a guy on laundry duty, then left.


	5. The Lay of the Land

Pendanski took me and Stanley back outside.

"You'll be in D Tent," he said. "D stands for Diligence."

They named the freaking tents? Or did they come with letters just to identify them, and Pendanski named them? I'll bet Pendanski gave them names.

He started pointing out buildings as he took us to our tent. "There's the mess hall, there's the rec room, and there's the showers. There's only one knob, 'cuz there's only one temperature: Cold. And that's the Warden's cabin over there. That's the number one rule at Camp Green Lake: Do not. Upset. The Warden."

"Yeah, he seemed kind of…" Stanley said.

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Who? Mr. Sir? Oh, he's not the Warden," Pendanski said.

I already knew that.

"He's just been in a bad mood since he quit smoking."

By that point, we got to our tent. Two boys walked up: one white, chewing on a toothpick; the other black, wearing thick-rimmed glasses. "Hey, Mom," the black one said. "Who's the Neanderthal and the other new guy?"

I couldn't tell if I was 'the Neanderthal' or 'the other new guy.'

"This is Stanley," Pendanski said. "And this is Soraya."

A third boy was with them: a heavy black boy. "So, what's happening with Barf Bag?" he asked.

"Oh, Lewis won't be returning," Pendanski told the other boys. "He's still in the hospital."

"Why do we get an eighth guy?" the white boy asked. "Aren't there only supposed to be seven people to a tent?"

"I'm not sure," Pendanski told him. "If you want to know why the Warden made a special exception, you should ask her."

"Never mind, then."

To me and Stanley, Pendanski said, "Stanley, Soraya, meet Rex, Alan, and Theodore."

"Hi," the two of us said.

"Yo, my name is X-Ray," the boy in the glasses said. "And that's Squid. That's Armpit."

"Him? He's Mom!" Squid, the white boy, said.

"They all have their little nicknames," Pendanski said. "But I prefer to use the names their parents gave them, the names society will recognize them by. Theodore, why don't we show Stanley and Soraya their cots?"

"Go ahead, Pit," X-Ray said.

Pendanski led us all into the tent.


	6. Boys of D Tent

Inside the tent, Pendanski said, "Welcome to your new home, Stanley and Soraya."

"Barf Bag slept here, Stanley," Armpit said, patting a disgusting-looking cot with stains on it. "Soraya, you got lucky. You got that nice, new thing down there at the end of the tent." He pointed down to the far end.

"Keep your bed clean," Pendanski said.

Two boys followed us in: Latino with a black bandana, and tall white boy with frizzy blond hair.

The Latino said, "Hey, I'm Magnet. That's Zig Zag."

"Hi," Stanley and I said.

Walking further into the tent, Magnet said, "What I told you about leaving that thing right there, man?"

I'm not sure what he was talking about. I wonder who the messy tent mate was.

"And this," Pendanski said, pointing to a boy lying on a cot near the door, "Is Zero. Say hello to Stanley and Soraya, Zero."

The black boy with a curly afro said nothing.

Pendanski continued, "You wanna know why they call him Zero?" He shook around Zero's head. "'Cuz there's nothing goin' on in his stupid little head!"

"Did you tell them about the lizards?" Zig Zag came over and asked Pendanski.

"Ricky, let's not scare the new kids."

X-Ray butted in and said, "His name's not Ricky; it's Zig Zag, a'ight?"

Pendanski ignored the boy. "Stanley, Soraya, if you have any questions, just ask Theodore. Theodore will be your mentor. You got that, Theodore?" He took Armpit's hat off and tossed it to the side.

Grumbling, Armpit said, "Yeah, man. Whatever, dude."

"I'm depending on you."

Magnet and a couple other boys giggled. Pendanski continued, "It should be no labor to be nice to your neighbor." He left.

Seriously, where does that man get his quotes?

Stanley and I unpacked what little we brought with us. We went outside to look for Armpit, who disappeared.

"Do you think we should ask to fill our canteens?" Stanley asked me. "Where's Theodore?"

"He's Armpit," I mumbled.

We found him by the showers with Squid and Magnet.

"Hey, Theodore," Stanley said, running out ahead of me. "Is there a place where we can fill our canteens up with water?"

Armpit grabbed Stanley's head and shoved it you-know-where.

"I know he smells that," Squid said.

I caught up to Stanley.

"Yo, my name is not Theodore." He pushed Stanley to the ground. Hard. "It's Armpit." He, Squid, and Magnet towered over Stanley.

"I tried to tell him," I mumbled.

"There's a water spigot over there." He nodded over somewhere else. He, Squid, Magnet, and Zig Zag, who had come up behind them, all backed up. Stanley and I went off to the spigot. The other boys walked away, laughing.

"Man, Pit! What you gotta be so mean for?" Squid said.

"Man, I ain't mean! I'm their mentor! Ain't that what I'm supposed to do?"

"I tried to tell you," I told Stanley.

"Thanks, Armpit!" Stanley yelled.

"Man, whatever," I heard Armpit mutter.


	7. The First Dinner

That night's dinner menu: beans, beans, and more beans. And chili. Translation: Prison food, the kind you always see in movies.

When Stanley and I got over to where our tent mates were sitting, Zig Zag cleared about a space and a half for us. I was sandwiched between him and Stanley. Fairly tightly, I might add.

"Hey, yo, new kids!" X-Ray said. "See, you two didn't dig today, so, uh, you wouldn't mind giving up your bread for somebody who did, now would you?" He reached over and got Stanley's bread.

As X started to take mine, I said, "Like hell you're having my food," and stuffed it in my mouth.

Very ladylike, I know.

"No, you can have mine," Stanley said, shyly.

"So, what they get you for?" Squid asked.

"Mmrh mmh mrrh mm!" I said, mouth still full of bread.

Lucky for me, I didn't have to elaborate, since Stanley said, "Stealing a pair of shoes." That caused a small scene.

"From the store? Or were they still on someone's feet?" Squid asked.

Zig Zag said, "No, no, he just killed the dude first. You just left out that little detail, right?"

"They were Clyde Livingston's shoes," said Stanley.

Our tent mates were surprised, as was I.

X-Ray said, "What? Man, you did not steal no Clyde Livingston's Sweetfeet shoes!"

"His World Series cleats," Stanley said.

Did you really need to be so specific? I thought to myself.

"Hold on, hold on! How didya get 'em? He's like, the fastest guy in the majors!" Magnet asked.

"Only guy to hit four triples in one game," Squid added.

"Clyde Livingston donated his shoes to this… homeless shelter," Stanley said.

"Did they have red X's on them?" Zero asked. First time I heard him say anything all afternoon. The other boys acted like that was the first time they heard him say anything, ever.

"You got Zero to talk!" Squid said, shocked.

"Ay, yo, what else can you do, Zero?" asked Armpit.

Zero quit talking.

"Yeah," said Stanley. "Yeah, they did."

"So, what's with your name?" Zig Zag asked me, changing the subject. "Soraya's a weird name!"

"Go ask whoever the hell named me!" I said. "Got a problem with it?"

"No," he said. "It's unusual. Kinda cool."

"Whatever," I said.

I should've taken Zig Zag's comments as a bad sign.


	8. Rising Early for the First Morning

That first night was rough, sleeping in a smelly tent with seven smelly teenage boys, in a cot that was totally uncomfortable.

Then, at some ungodly hour of the morning, even before sunrise, we heard a recording of horns playing. Whistles blew.

Time to get ready for my first hole.

"Smiling faces, smiling faces!" Dr. Pendanski said as all of Camp Green Lake walked to the shovel "library." More a shed than a library, I think.

Anyway, I really didn't want to hear that annoying, short little doctor talking so early in the morning, when I had no food and little sleep.

Then he spouted out another dumb phrase: "The early mole digs the deepest hole." He continued with some instructions: "Shovels on the left, tortillas on the right."

"OK, come and get it," Mr. Sir said. "Let's go! C'mon, Magnet, open them peepers! Let's go! Let's go! Head's still on the pillow! This ain't no dreamland, it's reality!"

I got my shovel and went to get "breakfast." God, those tortillas were more disgusting than the dinner I had the night before.

Stanley almost got beat up because he took what was supposed to be X-Ray's shovel. Supposedly it was shorter than the rest.

Then we walked to where we had to dig, led by Mr. Sir.


	9. The First Holes for Stanley and Soraya

When we finally got out to the dig site, Mr. Sir said, "This isn't a Girl Scout camp. Nobody's gonna babysit you." Marking spots on the ground with his heel, he told me and Stanley, "Dig here… and here. Now, if you find anything interesting, y'all are to report it to me or Pendanski. If the Warden likes what you find, you get the rest of the day off."

The idiot next to me asked, "What are we supposed to be looking for, Mr. Sir?"

I groaned and rolled my eyes.

"You're not looking for anything. You're building character! You take a bad boy and make him dig holes all day in the hot sun, and it turns him into a good boy. That's our philosophy here at Camp Green Lake. Start digging."

Mr. Sir walked away.

Stanley and I started to dig. I got a couple decent shovelfuls going, but Stanley fell over. I cracked up.

"One down, ten million to go," Mr. Sir said, chuckling as well.

Just after full sunrise, everyone started to have sizeable holes. Except for Stanley, of course.

Stanley complained that Armpit was throwing dirt in his hole. Our tent mates yelled at him.

Throughout the morning, Stanley and I got sizeable blisters, mostly on our hands. The water truck came to deliver us juice… Really? No. it came with water. I used some of my refilled canteen to wash my hands.

Not too long after lunch, I was the first person in D Tent to finish a hole.

The other boys were shocked, saying how Zero was the fastest digger from the tent, saying he was a mole that ate dirt.

Back at the main camp compound, I went to go take a shower.

I about had a massive panic attack when I saw a red spot in a lower part of my jumpsuit and felt a stickiness between my legs for the first time.

I calmly took my shower, and then calmly went to see the only other woman in the camp.

Great, I thought, walking to the Warden's cabin. I've only been here, what, eighteen hours? A day? Now my body's trying to give me away.


	10. Soraya Meets the Warden

I didn't need reminding which cabin belonged to the Warden. It was the nicest-looking thing in the entire camp: The only trees for God knows how many miles outside it, windows that weren't cracked, a freshly-painted door. There was also an AC hooked up to it, and a really nice vintage car was parked outside it. Like I said, it was the nicest part of camp, but not for the nicest of people. Or so I've been told, and I'd come to learn firsthand.

I went onto the porch and knocked on the door. I knew that the day before, Pendanski said not to upset the Warden, which I was probably going to do, but it was sort of an emergency.

"If this is Sevillo or that doctor, go away. I'm not in the mood right now," a woman called from inside.

Yep. She was upset about something.

"It's not," I said.

A red-haired lady opened the door. "Oh, it's you," she said. "What do you want?"

I wondered how she knew who I was, but didn't say anything. I just told her about my problem.

"Come in, then," she said, closing the door behind us. Once inside, she asked, "Why aren't you more prepared for this?"

"Well, I wasn't exactly expecting it. Apparently I'm a late bloomer, so I was hoping it'd start after my 18 months here."

She gave me a box from her bathroom and shoved me out of the house, saying, "Don't let any of the boys see those."


End file.
